Video: 10 Writing and Directing Tips from Michael Mann

Advice from the writer-director of Heat, The Insider, Ali, and many other films and TV series.

Outstanding Screenplays with a new video compilation featuring the filmmaker Michael Mann. His writing credits include Thief, Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Ali, and numerous TV series including Miami Vice.

I’m all about characters and character-driven storytelling, so here are the tips Mann provides about that subject.

The first and third tip are critical. Our goal as screenwriters is to shrink the emotional, psychological, and experiential distance between the reader and the script pages. And the single best way to do that is through the characters, specifically the Protagonist.

The Protagonist’s “universe” should so capture a script reader’s imagination, it becomes their universe as well.

The Protagonist’s “aspirations” should so resonate with the reader that they find themselves “immersed” in that character’s experience.

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